Love our chickens

[Curly Bill]

We have silkies, Rhode island reds, Americana's and mutts. Had a little baby die yesterday. She was black on top and yellow on bottom so we named her Hawf n Hawf. Curly Bill is one of our silkie hens, the top of her beak is curled to the side thus "Curly Bill". We have a rooster mutt who is every color of the rainbow so we named him Gockel after the German artist Alfred Gockel. Two partridge silkies named Speckles and Freckles. Have lost a bunch of birds to coyotes: Nugget, Scratch, Michelle, Barack, Buffy, Gimp, Moron, Eric the red and a guinea named Mr. Wright.

 

[drumstick diva]

Time to fight back against the coyotes or you will be replacing chickens constantly. Are you allowed to trap or shoot where you live?

You definitely need to beef up your coop and run. If you free range, you need to keep them safely confined until the coyote and relatives are dealt with. Check out the predators section.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

So glad you could join our community!! I am sorry about little Hawf. Sometimes they don't all make it. But sounds like you have a very nice flock!

Make yourself at home here on BYC and welcome to our flock!

 

[chickencopper]

get a large trap. spend the extra bucks for the coyote/dog cage. one coyote means more to come.

 

[gander007]

Alright

great to have you joining the BYC flock

BYC has a very useful learning center

I have found Coyotes are some of the easiest pest to keep out
as a four foot fence is enough to detour then it is the smaller
pest like Fox, Raccoons, Bob-Cats, and so on ....

 

[Ren2014]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! X3 try the Predator forum for some ideas on dealing with your coyote problem. https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/13/predators-and-pests and the article from the Learning Center https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...ors-how-to-protect-your-chickens-from-coyotes

 

[Curly Bill]

Thanks for all the welcomes. The wife and I are currently working on fencing as our chickens are free range. We live deep in the woods so eliminating coyotes won't bring up any legal issues. Don't really like to kill any of Gods creatures but we have to look out for our birds. Interesting tidbit: we have a tree in our yard, don't know what kind but every year about this time it gets ravaged by little white caterpillars. The chickens have figured out that when I go to the tree with a stick in my hand that there is a feast coming. I'll whack a few limbs and all the caterpillars fall to the ground and the chickens chow down. Its fun to watch.

 

[DeerFangRanch]

Fencing is the answer. I've found if you trap out most animals, it leaves a "void" and more come in to the, now free, territory.